


The Beast Within 11/?

by iantosgal (orphan_account)



Series: The Beast Within [11]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Alternate Timelines, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-13
Updated: 2013-03-13
Packaged: 2017-12-05 05:39:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/719495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/iantosgal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack is back from his time with the Doctor and his team are keeping something from him, but what? Set after KKBB.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Beast Within 11/?

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally a story I posted a couple of years back on my LJ. My Torchwood muse buggered off and the story died. A couple of days ago, I found it, re-read it and the muse was reawakened!! So I've written a couple more chapters and just wanted to repost this over here on my new profile! So sorry for the spam of chapters, if anyone remembers it from LJ then I'm sorry for the long wait and for anyone that reads, I hope you enjoy it!!!

They sat together in the boardroom, the blueprints spread across the table in front of them.

“That's where the thing is, that's the sedatives room, that's where they hang  
and pack all the meat,” Rhys said, pointing to various points on the map.

“That’s good to know,” Owen said, looking around at the others.

The tension in the room was palpable. Gwen was pacing around the room, adding to the atmosphere.

“Yes, that’s good to know, but he is not driving us in,” Gwen snapped.

“They’re expecting me. You lot can hide in the back of the van.”

“What is this ‘Scooby-Doo’? Absolutely no way is he going in.”

“Oh, where was I when you decided to get involved? Did you give me a second thought?” Rhys roared.

“Oh joy, a domestic,” Owen sighed.

“Rhys is right, he's our best way in, stun guns only,” Jack reasoned. “Once Rhys has loaded up, he can clear. You don't have to come. You can stand down,” Jack said looking directly at Gwen.

“It might be better,” Tosh said quietly.

“You love him. Makes you vulnerable. Believe me, I know.” Jack’s eyes darted almost involuntarily over to Ianto.

“He’s not going in without me,” Gwen growled.

“Ok, that’s your decision.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Come on, love. You and me, a team.”

“Dammit, Rhys! This is for real. Do you understand that? This is for  
real. And if you mess up, I will kill you!” Gwen shouted.

Ianto had had enough. Everyone needed to take a moment to breath so he took matters into his own hands. Rising quickly from his chair, he marched over to Gwen and lifted her easily over his shoulder. She yelled in surprise.

“Everyone needs to calm the fuck down.” He pointed a finger at Rhys, whilst looking around at the others. ”Talk to him.”

He marched out of the conference room, Gwen struggling on his shoulder, leaving Rhys staring open mouthed after him.

*~*~*~*

Ianto dropped Gwen unceremoniously on the sofa and stood, looking down at her.

“Ianto! What the hell are you playing at?”

“You just need to take a minute, Gwen. Rhys is coming in, he is going to be in danger, and you are no good to anyone if you can’t control your emotions.”

Ianto felt like their roles had been reversed.

Not so long ago, after a certain little girl had been murdered, Gwen had said these words to him. She had shouted them at him with tears running down her face, whilst Owen and Tosh tried to defuse the situation, as Ianto got angrier and angrier because she should know how bad he had felt. In the end, Gwen looked at him and held out her arms and Ianto fell into them, sobbing as he fell to his knees, Gwen following him down.

Now, Ianto was in control and Gwen was not.

Gwen snapped her mouth closed and looked up at Ianto.

“I know. I do know. But I love him, and what if…”

Ianto sat on the sofa beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

“I won’t let that happen. I promise.”

“You can’t. You can’t know he’ll be ok.”

“Yes, I can. Because I promise you, I will not let anything happen to him. Anyway, he’ll be in the van and then long gone.”

Gwen nodded, sniffing slightly.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Ianto kissed the top of her head and rubbed his hand along her arm soothingly.

*~*~*~*

When Gwen had her emotions under control, they made their way back up.

“Alright, love?” Rhys asked “I’m sorry.”

“It’s ok. I’m ok,” she went and sat beside him, taking his hand in hers.

“So…what’s the best way to put the creature out of its misery?” Tosh asked timidly.

“We’re not going to kill it. We’re going to save it,” Jack announced.

“And how do we do that?” Owen asked.

“Stabilize it, wait for the rift to open and send it back.”

“Jack…” Ianto started.

He knew what Jack was suggesting would never work and he also knew why Jack was doing it. He still felt guilty over the way he had treated Beth. Not only that, but he wanted to prove to Ianto that not all aliens were bad, they didn’t all have to be killed. Ianto didn’t have to be killed, he wasn’t a threat. But Ianto knew he was far more dangerous than an alien whale.

“Why shouldn’t we save it? Because it’s an alien? It needs our protection.”

“You didn’t hear its cry. It was heartbreaking,” Rhys said.

“Actually, I did.” All eyes turned to Ianto as he spoke.

“Outside the warehouse? That noise you heard?” Owen asked, ignoring Jack’s confused look.

“Yeah.“ Ianto nodded and thought back to that sound. “Jack’s right. We should save it.”

“How could you have heard…” Rhys started.

“Rhys,” Gwen said and shot him a look that said just stop talking.

*~*~*~*

Ianto decided to hit the gym. It would be good to get a decent night’s sleep before they went in tomorrow, but he wouldn’t do that if he didn’t get rid of some of this bloody energy.

He didn’t know what happened while he was gone, but as he made his way up to the main hub, hair still wet from the shower, t-shirt in hand, he heard raised voices. Rolling his eyes, he headed towards the noise where he found Rhys and Jack squaring off against each other, with Gwen trying to separate them.

“Did you ever think of me? Her family? The people that love her?”

“No. Sorry. We just needed her.”

“She’s my fiancé! You put her life at risk every day!”

“I don’t do anything! She found us. She wanted this job!”

“You made her keep it from me!”

“Company policy, sorry.”

“You fucking bastard…”

“Hey! Hey!” Ianto shouted, tugging Jack backwards and making the older man stumble. “This, all this fucking testosterone, has got to stop. Yes, our job is dangerous, Rhys, but Gwen knew that when she joined. And Jack? Could you try and not be so fucking antagonistic for five minutes? We’ve got enough shit to be dealing with at the moment, without having to worry if you two are gonna explode at each other!”

Ianto belatedly noticed Rhys staring at his chest, at the scars that marred his torso to be more precise. He pulled his t-shirt on quickly.

“Yeah, I can see it’s dangerous,” Rhys said quietly.

“Yeah, well, we’re lucky we have Owen,” Ianto muttered before shaking his head and walking away.

He left them to it for a while and when he returned, his words seemed to have had the desired effect. Gwen sat between them on the sofa but the two men were talking amicably, and Ianto supposed that was really the best he could hope for.

“I just wish you were a bit uglier!” Rhys laughed, making Jack chuckle. “You’re not gay by any chance are you?”

“I don’t like labels.”

“No, he’s not one for labels, is our Jack,” Ianto laughed joining them.

Gwen smiled that gap toothed smile, clearly relieved everyone was getting along.

“It’s getting late,” Jack sighed.

“Yep, you coming to bed then or what?” Ianto asked.

“I think I can be persuaded,” Jack said with a leer.

“To sleep, Jack. Bed. Now. Go.”

“Alright, alright. Night guys.”

Rhys looked a little shocked and then smiled.

“Are you two together?”

“I hope so. Took me long enough to get him,” Jack winked at Ianto who simply rolled his eyes.

“Yes, Jack. You masterfully wooed me. Now, can we go to bed or what?”

“Ooo, you’re eager tonight.”

Jack yelped out a laugh when Ianto simply picked him up, too tired to continue this any longer.

“Goodnight all!” he called out.

“Night!” Jack called from somewhere near the region of Ianto’s backside.

Their only answer was laughter.

*~*~*~*

Jack was off with Rhys at Harwood’s waiting for a phone call telling him when to come and pick up the meat.

Things were less tense than before, but now that Rhys was out of her sight, Gwen had resumed her pacing.

The other’s left her too it after she bit Tosh’s head off, and were sitting in the boardroom.

“This is gonna be one hell of a day,” Owen muttered taking a big gulp of his coffee.

“I just wish they’d hurry up and call so we can get this over with,” Ianto replied.

“You gonna be ok? I mean the smell’s gonna be pretty bad.”

“Yeah, well, I’ll just have to hold my breath.”

“If you’re sick…”

“I won’t be. It’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure? You could hardly handle it when it was a small amount,” Tosh reminded him.

“I’m not staying behind if that’s what you’re after,” Ianto snapped. He felt guilty at the hurt look on Tosh’s face.

“Of course not, mate,” Owen soothed, knowing how important it was to Ianto that he could still do his job. “I’m just thinking, maybe there’s something I can give you to knock out your sense of smell for a while.”

Owen was up and heading out of the room before Ianto could protest. He sighed as Tosh went too and followed them out.

In the autopsy room, Owen was rummaging through the cabinet that Ianto knew contained, shall we say, off world medication.

“Owen, I don’t think…”

“Aha!” Owen turned round a vial in his hand. He grabbed a needle and drew the liquid from the vial into it. “Trust me, sit down.”

“What is that?” Ianto asked, already sitting on the table.

“Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to.”

“Well, that sounds reassuring.”

“It’s enough to completely knock out a regular human’s sense of smell. Which means you’ll still be able to smell but it won’t be overpowering.”

“Great,” Ianto hissed as the needle pierced his skin.

“Don’t be a baby,” Tosh said a cheeky grin on her face. Owen chuckled.

“Yeah, Ianto don’t be a baby!”

“What is this? You two tag teaming up on me?”

“Well…you know,” Owen said cryptically shooting Tosh a smile making the woman blush.

“No, I don’t. And I don’t want to,” Ianto pushed himself off the table when his mobile rang. He reached into his pocket and pulled it out. “Hey,” Ianto listened for a moment and then hung up. “Jack and Rhys are on their way back.”

Without a word the three of them turned to look up into the main hub where Gwen was still pacing.

*~*~*~*

Owen guided the van in and Ianto and Tosh brought up the rest of the equipment. Gwen came hurrying from the other direction, a pastry bag in hand.

“Where’s mine?” Ianto called, earning him nothing more than a flick of Gwen’s middle fingers and a slightly forced smile.

They put the stuff in and clambered into the back.

The drive was tense. Owen began making an antidote to the ketamine they were using to drug the alien so that he could start weaning it off. Ianto and Tosh were checking over the guns and torches making sure everything was loaded and working before distributing them around. Gwen was silent.

“You ok?” Jack asked.

“What do you think?”

“He’ll be fine. He’s a good bloke,” Owen said.

It was probably the nicest thing Owen had ever said to Gwen and Ianto smiled at him. Looked like Owen and Jack were starting to learn how to not hurt someone’s feelings. Ianto knew it wouldn’t last.

As soon as the van stopped, the other’s turned to Ianto. He listened intently and when he was sure there was no one in the vicinity of the back of the van he nodded. The silently filed out and rushed off, Jack, Gwen and Tosh to the main area, Ianto and Owen to the corridors and other smaller rooms.

Ianto and Owen entered the packaging room, huge chunks of meat hung all around. The smell was horrible, but Ianto could just about handle it thanks to whatever Owen had injected him with. Ianto shot Owen a look and then made his way to the door at the far end. He half ran down the stairs and began searching through the corridors and remaining rooms. Owen’s voice crackled over the comms.

“Everyone, they’re armed.”

Ianto groaned. They had only brought stun guns, which meant if these bastards opened fire, the only way to stop them would be him. Joy.

Ianto carried on checking over the rooms. As he walked through a corridor a door to his left opened and a worker came through. He looked at Ianto in confusion. Ianto pretended to look surprised, whilst cursing himself for not paying attention. He should have heard the guy coming. He waved.

“Hello! I, uh…have a thing here somewhere…” he pulled out his stun gun quickly. “Hell of a day,” he said cheerfully and then zapped the worker with his stun gun, catching him easily in his arms.

Dragging the man back into one of the empty rooms he had passed, he flung him in and shut the door.

“Ianto? Did Rhys get away ok?” Gwen’s voice sounded worried in his ear.

“I’ll check now.”

Ianto made his way back to the packing room and as he entered, he came face to face with a gun. He could see Rhys, mouth bleeding, standing with a second man and cursed. If Rhys wasn’t there, or there wasn’t a second guy, he would have taken them. But if he attacked, the other guy could hurt Rhys. And Ianto had promised Gwen he would protect her fiancé.

“You looking for someone? How many more of you?”

“Just us,” Ianto replied calmly, his eyes darting around looking for a safe way out of this mess.

“You thought the two of you could take us out? Nah, you’re not that stupid.” The man’s hand patted along Ianto’s body, finding the stun gun and removing it. “Dave, get some rope, tie their hands. I want every door locked, inside and out. Nobody leaves this building till this is sorted.”

Ianto almost lost it as the man grabbed his arm and pushed him roughly forward. But he held back, his sharp ears catching the whispered sound of Owen’s voice.

“They’ve got Rhys and Ianto.”


End file.
